Turkey. Can't think of a funny title just yet :(

TURKEY- the land of opportunity. Or the land of Kebaps. Probably Kebaps.

Everything was new and exciting about turkey, and new and exciting in a way that I had never seen the likes of in my life. Even more so than being stuck in the dark in the middle of the night on a train and then in a parking lot in the middle of Bavaria with no cell phone and no contacts or map just hoping- hoping that Alex would pick me up. This place is truly exotic, and so much so that I can’t wait, literally cannot wait to get back.

First off, the plane taxied much faster than any I’d seen before. Little things like this. I got off the plane with Brandon, and then we had to purchase a visa before we could enter the country. On top of that, they demanded 20 US dollars, which we didn’t have, and complained when we paid 20 euro instead. Perplexing, seeing how 20 euro is worth more than $20. Then, we had to go through the first real passport check of the trip. After some confusion with trying to figure out how much money to take out, I finally withdrew 80 ytr, or new Turkish lira. Why was this confusing? Because the money here is so unpredictable that there was simply no way to know how much it was worth relative to both the dollar and the euro, which were concerns of our of course always thinking in terms of other currency. After discovering that a lira was worth almost exactly ½ of a euro and 2/3 of a dollar, and that it was no longer measured in millions but instead divided by that amount [8,000,000 lira = 8 ytl] we were on our way, or so we thought.

See Mauricio and us had been communicating back and forth via email for awhile in regards to where we were staying. He arrived a few days earlier and I said call me in italy and explain all this. He responded with call us. So we attempted to call him and hoped, just hoped that the number was correct. Problem was, all I had was large YTL bills and no change to make the call, not to mention it wouldn’t take change and needed a phone card. So, seeing that we got in late and couldn’t buy one at the airport, a nice security guard responded by letting us use his cellular phone. Phew!

Then I went into the wrong line a guard took my passport and got confused. He then walked off with it and took me into an office. Turns out I accidentally got in an outgoing line and was then stamped again for leaving Turkey and then I stamped it again saying I was coming back again, so after being there for less than 20 minutes I had 3 stamps and a visa instead of one. So he writes in Turkish on the form and I got it back. But it was a bit nerve racking to have someone who knows no Spanish and no English take your passport in an admittedly more sketchy country than the one I hailed from.

Finally we found out we were headed to Sultanahmet, a good place to stay after the phone conversation and got a taxi. There were some nice Italianos in the taxi too heading to the same place who helped to split the cost. We negotiated the price and took off. You have to negotiate everything, absolutely everything in Turkey. The guy was driving well over 100 MPH, not kph. Maniacal to say the least. We weaved through traffic and I thought we would get hurt, plus the seatbelts had been disabled. Luckily, after some arguing over directions, we got there much later, but late at night and once again had no reservations.

We found the place and Alex, which let us stay for a mere 12 lira a night. 8 US dollars. Not bad eh? Hostel was packed but nice, and we were guaranteed a room not in the harem room for the second night.

The area of the site was right next to 2 mosques and an ancient church. We headed to one of many bazaars to find Mauricio and his girlfriend Carmen smoking the waterpipe, or hookah as it is called. It’s a popular thing to do, which is basically super weak tobacco flavored with one of many fruits or chocolates and smoked through a long tube through water which cools it down. About 5% of the potency of standard cigarettes and substantially less than cigars, it’s a local custom to be enjoyed on sultan pillows with Turkish tea and backgammon, both popular things the locals do. We were only there for a few minutes though because we were exhausted and it was time for some rest after a very very long day of travel for Brandon and myself. I didn’t get a new phone yet, but Brandon went off to try the payphone. Sketchy service here resulted in difficulties for him. I had some food for a very low price J and headed off to bed.

Next: Turkey impressions and our first encounter with the east. Truly, this is the most exciting destination. Boy is it a wild place.

Italia! Italia! Italia, thats the chant of the world cup 2006 victors

Basically, ROME is one of the few cities which I fully intend on returning to, simply because there was so much else there to do which I had not yet seen, or would like to see again for sure. I made some definitive observations here:

-First, Italy is Hot, or at least it was while I was there. On lo quality trains, walking around, in hostels, in everything it is really freakin hot. I probably would have made a bigger deal about the heat had it been the case that I had known it was well over 100 degrees while I was there. I tend not to handle the heat too effectively, and this was one of those situations that ignorance resulted in slightly less complaining on my behalf. I found out later that it was almost 42 degrees C at times, which is hot. I guess ignorance is bliss. Sometimes I would go to a fast food joint and just sit there and drink a huge soda just to get out of the heat for a while.

-The place is seemingly booked year round. I would choose to return to Italy in a bit more tolerable weather, perhaps in late fall or mid winter.

-There are salesman selling fake designer wear pretty much everywhere. Whenever a policeman comes by, they grab their goods and take off. Too bad, because I did actually want some of the unauthorized art prints that were on sale everywhere, but like everywhere else I went on this trip except for the last 2 days, I didn’t have the space to carry around stuff. I bought some stuff at Dolce and Gabanna, and this cost me almost $100 just to ship it home. Then again, if I had used La poste, it would have been cheaper but after going to DG you are not going to risk losing your goods to a poor quality mail service.

-Gypsies, they are everywhere. I swear on the subway once, [small subway in rome, mostly due to excavations that archeologists undoubtedly run in to whenever they try to dig more] there was one that was walking around pretending to breast feed seriously a doll. A doll! They want money and will do almost anything to get it. In times like this its best just to hold your ground and not give in, no matter how desperate they look.

-Ever heard of white trash? Welcome to the ‘cultured’ Europe! Its called eurotrash. Yep, mullets, silly jeans [not cheap though] ridiculous outfits, stupid piercings. The locals love to look as silly as possible at times. Suits are better tailored, but the belief that everyone dresses better is wrong.

-There is more to see here than I had time for unfortunately. Cell phone chips are cheap. Just 10 euro or so and that’s enough time for a while. The payphones are difficult to use.

-My credit card failed for the first of 2 times on this portion of the trip. I went to use it at an ATM or ‘bancomat’ as it is called and attempted to take out 240 euro or so. This caused 3 problems: It 1) didn’t give me the money, 2) put a hold on my card for exceeding the $300 US limit for the day and 3) withdrew that amount from my account despite not giving me the cash and took an international transaction fee. This got fixed a few days later, but for awhile I didn’t have much access to money. Many more goods are handled in cash in Europe, so this didn’t bode well for myself

-I learned more from some british people about the structure of the champions league, which is the title system of the euro football clubs. Basically, they take the top 1-4 teams from each league, depending on standings and prior experience in the champions league. Its confusing, but not nearly as confusing as the way the BCS championship game is decided in College football.

-Brandon and I took the plunge twice here, going on both the pub crawl and a tour of the coliseum. Both were ok I guess. I could have used a little more in-depth coverage of the coliseum, but it did skip the lines. The pub crawl did give us unlimited beer… for the first hour. After that we went to several bars each of which had a free ‘shot.’ I think it was a really really weak shot but hey. Also, as expected there were way way way more dudes than girls. Of course we were part of the problem and not the solution, but its hard not to look at it from an oh darn perspective. After all, you gotta look out for your friends. I mean it was seriously like 30 to 1. We left the even early. Too bad, because we had heard good things from other travelers about these things. In tourist areas there are tons of girls talking to you and passing out flyers and what not about them and we had previously dismissed it as a waste of time and money, but I guess you gotta try everything once.

-Brandon was a bit of a wuss when it came to visiting all day. He couldn’t take it as much as myself, and there were times when I would take off and he would just go and sit online and send emails to his girlfriend or look up flights home or whatever. Sad, because I could tell he wanted to go home almost as soon as I saw him when I got to Florence. I couldn’t tell if it was pressure on her side or what, but he was not getting the full experience because all he was thinking about regardless of what he told me was about how long he was going to be until he got home. I think these trips work out better if you are single or if you resign yourself to doing what you can while the opportunity is there and putting off that other aspect of your life when it is needed. These opportunities don’t come up often, if ever again for most people. That’s what many other backpackers did and it worked out better for them that way. Then again, I think that Mauricio pressured Brandon into going to some extent, especially for as long as we did. He is more likely to do what Mauricio does. I don’t really understand why. Then again, he was having some financial problems, but not anything that was unbearable by any means. In all, I think he was happier going than not, but it was sad for me to see him sort of suffering and not enjoying it as much. That said, I wanted to go home too at times, but who doesn’t? I mean you don’t get any normalcy for a long time and sometimes you need to just chill out. For those of us who know Brandon [he is one of my best friends after all!] we have to push him go get going a lot. In the end, I think it was better that he came than had he not, and I think he had a great time. Just not as much as he could have had he gone with a different attitude. Why was this such as big deal for all of us? Because he is our really good friend. Also he was always looking for the internet and stuff, so it kind of dominated some of our priorities. He really is a great guy, don’t get me wrong.

-We had to plan to get back to Milan to grab our flight to Istanbul. This involved yet another booking fee [thanks a lot eurail!] but did ensure a comfortable flight. Unfortunately, Shabia my Milanese cousin was out of town, so one of the few places I had friends in town to stay with, we had to again get a hostel. After another wild goose chase and a long day [capped off by some nice calzone] we plunked down for a night to take off for Istanbul the next day. For reference, this was july 30.

-The next day, Brandon again skipped seeing the city, while I shopped for the girls. The D&G store people looked a bit shocked at first, but once they realized I was plunking down some cashola, they listened. Money talks I guess. I got the tax free forms and shipped the stuff home via DHL for an exhorbant fee. But it was worth it for the girls. They love Italian designer gear. We mailed some postcards and took the bus to the airport, which was a long ways away.

-Just goes to show what you don’t know while you are traveling: apparently some war started between Israel and Lebanon. Hmm.

-Long, long line at the airport. Go budget travel myair Italia! Still getting Italian emails from them though. Got it through skyscanner.net. A great resource for plane travel within Europe.

-Italian food is great. It however, is not really that much better than the authentic places here in America, contrary to popular belief. Girls are pretty too, but a bit stuck up compared to those we met elsewhere. Didn’t meet too many other travelers in Italy, except in line at the Vatican. I was mostly with amigos or trying to do too much with too little time.

-Actually dropped change to a street artist. Guy was really good, got some pictures too. Probably more in Rome than elsewhere.

-Gelato was superb. 4 euros here and there really doesn’t stretch the budget too well. Neither does constant subway rides, etc. Stuff you don’t think about so much. Ice cream here is the best in the world. Awesome

-Tourist information offices are super helpful. Don’t underestimate them they are there to help you out.

-People answer the phone there “pronto?” Strange translation. Also, the stereotype is true of the way Italianos talk on TV. That’s how they talk! I love it, it’s the best language in the world. Perhaps not the most useful for business, but really pretty sounding. I wish I knew more. Broken Spanish can be easily understood by them, so I used it several times to bail us out.

-They really like that stupid song from the white stripes called seven nation army. It became a long running joke for my friends because I despise that song. They made a remix for it because of the championship italy won.

That was Italy. I will add more as I see it. Next, Turkey.

Continuing with the sites. The sites decreased a lot from here on out by the way.

Continuning:

-We did not see Michelangelo’s moses, or the other famous art gallery, but we did hit

-Several designer shops. Thought it was out of my system from Milan, I guess not

-La Fontana di trevi. Big, huge fountain that people throw money into, and lots of it. Huge fine if you come and try and collect it. Awesome

-“St Teresa in Excascy” Located in a small church that is unobtrusive to its visitors. No lines no nothing, to see this super famous Very Bernini Sculpture of St teresa being pierced by an angel’s dart. What makes it controversial is the face and expression that teresa makes in it. While the subject matter of this probably breeches the pg 13 nature of this blog, I think you know what I am talking about. Its supposed to show her in utter lack of self control after receiving the grace of god in a very intense way

-A large statue of some sort, and many others

-A subpar interpretation of the beautiful Claire de lune by Debussy in a local mall

-A guided tour of the colleseum. Ok I guess.

-A Very brief and I mean brief peek inside one of berninis churches. There was no joke-an Italian wedding going on and my hair was beginning to get a bit raggedy so I just poked my head inside to see that alterpiece. It was one of the ones in his famous 4 corners which has several fountains and churches all located within a few blocks of each other. Not really all that surprising considering that Rome has over 900 [really?] churches.

-The style of this story was inspired by my own fathers portrayal of his experiences with the bear of the Olympic mountains

And who could forget-

-The Pantheon. Easily overshadowed by its more publicized and similarly spelled Parthenon, it is a truly fascinating building which no one knows how it was constructed. A building which has a hole at the top of the dome, was the only dome standing except for the Agia Sofia in Istanbul, until the Duomo at Firenze was completed nearly 1400 years later. It is made of panels of poured cement. To this day, it is a mystery as to how it was built. Now a church I suppose. I wonder, how many regular congregation members do all these big time churches have? None the less, this was quite the Roman spectacle, albeit turned over to the Christians like so many others.

-The Roman forum: Ruins a plenty around here. You can’t even turn around without getting an intense sense of history of the place. The temple of Saturn, Arch of Constantine, Arch of Titus, and many more. I have some pictures of myself laying on a roman column which is 2000 years old. In fact, there are more pictures of this section than just about anywhere else in the trip. Photos for arts sake too.

To my dismay, my studies of art and history are somewhat limited in Roman affairs despite my interest, so the exact significance is not as clear to me as it with baroque and renaissance art and design. However, it did renew the interest that was already there. Some common misbeliefs:

-the Coliseum is huge. Yeah it’s big but the movie makes it bigger than it really is.

-No other major misbeliefs.

Many of the structures found throughout the city have been plundered for supplies that were eventually used to build other monuments, especially the forum and coliseum. Literally everywhere there are lifelike, flowing statues that are far more interesting and modern looking than their gothic counterparts. Also, white is a predominant color. To boot, there are large pillars with various purposes just everywhere. To see it all here would be impossible, if not extremely difficult.

I also visited several other interesting looking churches on my own walking tour, as well as the Mausoleum of Cesar Augustus, recently unearthed. Not much left of that, and it was practically abandoned. Too bad, I guess he never should have changed his name from Octavian. In the next entry I will talk about some stories and some final thoughts on Rome and the trip back to Milan where I headed next to the great Istanbul.

Rome, the eternal[ly hot] city

Of course, this doesn't even begin to cover it all:

Rome: the eternal city

First, the semantics. You see, when traveling from place to place, it becomes necessary to find accommodations, and that can be a tricky process. There are HI affiliated hostels, which are more expensive and require a membership, there is hoselworld.com which provides bookings for a fee that [may or may not have availability or honor the request] and there is cold calling the places in the lets go or lonely planet book [many others do this] and then there are recommendations. You take what you can get, but realizing that relocating takes time and money is also a factor it becomes a struggle as time rolls on. Ideally, you plan months or weeks ahead and roll in to each place as you would like to, but that is simply impossible to do when your plans are dependent on factors out of your control and most of all, you simply are unaware of what specifically you are going to see and how long one would like to stay in a specific city.

Thus, Brandon and myself took the best and most highly rated hostel of the website, and this landed us on a 2 hour excursion to locate this nice hostel that was not so nicely located a heck of a long way from the city itself. It was on the beach, which was nice and had the free internet. However, it wasn’t the cheapest and was unreasonable for the long term. That coupled with building laundry issues and an overall lack of proximity for planning’s sake caused us to again have to relocate to ANOTHER hostel this time located just next to the train station. We stayed there for 2 more nights for a total of 4 in Rome. The third joint was not the best, but it was home to some fun people to talk to, a grocery store close by, and most importantly for Brandon, close to the internet and phone shops because at this point he really really really wanted to go home. I’m not entirely sure if this is because he missed his girlfriend or if he was running out of money but that is what happened. So what did I see in Rome and how is this completely unrelated to the above discussion? Oh yeah we did check out the beach. It was a sign of better things to come…

A lot, and a whole lot. Most of it I had to cover by myself because bless little ‘ol Brandon, but he is just not cut out for extended travel and sight-seeing. I was growing a bit tired of it myself but that is the way it goes.

In no particular order:

-The Colloseum: gotta see it. I think a child would know about this

-Circus maximus: Not much left, but it was the site of a chariot ring for racing and what not. We took some good photos there.

-Palantine hill: Home to roman houses and rich people

-Some Palaces which I am not sure of the name: I believe used for state affairs. We weren’t allowed on the premises but it was incredible from the outside. This country has the best sights and architecture in my opinion. Sorry Paris!

-St Peters Basillica and the Vatican museum [a whole new country? Sort of]- can’t say enough about this. Hands down, the BEST thing in Europe, or the world. The statues are plentiful and spectacular. Carravagio, Michelangelo, everything. Mummies they jacked from Egypt. Laocoon and his 2 sons [famous sculpture from antiquity] Closed off archives. Rafael stanzas. You name it, it is here, and its better than the Lou VRA. I returned to this place thrice. That’s right, on 3 different occasions. I am going to use these paintings and designs from a local art print shop to decorate my new premises when, not if I get the chance. It’s the best art I have ever seen and I doubt I will ever be as impressed again in my life. The letters lining the walls of St Peters are 2 meters tall and made of solid gold. It’s the biggest church in the world, and its free. I saw mike’s pieta, the famous one and simply stared at it for about 15 minutes, behind bullet proof glass from 35 meters away. In fact, the interpretation I heard from a guide was amongst the best I have heard:

“to quiet the critics saying that Jesus is too small and Mary too young, its simple to explain this sculpture- it’s a young Mary holding the baby Christ, she is holding her infant and receiving a vision of the tragedy of burying her own”

Unfortunately, this visit was accompanied by the longest wait of the trip, and the only on in which an early rise was a bad strategy. Would have been better to show up at noon as I discovered [no line, huh?] but Greg had to go home that day so it was that or nothing. Its blistering hot now in Italy and that was an issue. Also, contrary to popular literature and my Father, you did not need to wear pants or shoes, but I did anyways. Chicas did need to cover up them straps though. Turns out there is another famous fresco by Michelangelo, but it is inaccessible and is located in the elusive Pauline chapel, of course for papal purposes. The nice thing was, that Greg is well versed in these things and is an excellent travel partner. So we covered it all and when he left, I hit it one more time due to separation that occurs in those ridiculous crowds. Hey, though, the hype isn’t for once overrated. I skipped guides and tours because at this point, the museum expenses were starting to add up. Plus, they were more expesive there than in France.

-Yes I have been lazy about this, but it is imperative that I finish this account so my stupid brain doesn’t forget it forever.